Marvin Sapp's 'Here I Am' hits No. 2 on Billboard top 200, highest position of any gospel album

Grand Rapids' pastor/singer-songwriter Marvin Sapp now has a distinction belonging to no other gospel music artist.

Sapp's new "Here I Am" collection, which officially released last week Tuesday, came in No. 2 on the Billboard top 200 chart -- the highest position of any gospel release in the chart's 54-year history.

The project sold 76,000 copies its first week in stores, second only to the latest album from the country trio Lady Antebellum on the chart that covers all musical genres.

"All I wanted to do on this CD was pour out what God poured into me," said Sapp Wednesday from New York City.

"I'm grateful for the opportunity to minister in song and I hope this is just the beginning of where this CD is going."

Sapp spoke from New York City, where he was scheduled to be interviewed Thursday on the DJ Hughley radio show and do an in-store appearance at J&R Music World.

The pastor of Lighthouse Full Life Center Church on Burton St. SE has been busy this past week promoting the project.

Last week Tuesday he was in Chicago at The Music Experience in the Harold Washington Cultural Center. He spent the next two days in Atlanta, doing a retail appearance at a mall and being a guest on two nationally-syndicated radio shows. Friday night he did an "in-store" at a Wal-Mart in Annapolis, Md. before returning home last weekend.

The album's first single, "The Best In Me," gave the CD a great head start. The power ballad, which debuted in January on a B.E.T. special, is currently No. 20 on Billboard's Urban chart and still tops the Gospel singles list. It peaked last month at 14 on the magazine's R&B/hip-hop chart.

"To have a release that impacts mainstream as well as Christian and Gospel charts at such a magnitude is a benefit to the entire Gospel music genre," said James "Jazzy" Jordon, executive vice president of Verity Gospel Music Group, Sapp's record label.

Other industry observers are noting the achievement's landmark status.

"While various Christian contemporary and rock artists such as Switchfoot have repeatedly burst into the mainstream in the past 15 years, the crossover success of gospel artists such as Kirk Franklin, Bebe & Cece Winans, and now Sapp, has been more unusual," he said.

The CD was recorded last fall in Resurrection Life Church in suburban Wyoming with producer Aaron Lindsey, who co-wrote "The Best In Me" with Sapp.

Sapp's previous CD "Thirsty" was released in 2007 and is now approaching the million sales mark.

The numbers for the single "The Best of Me" have already passed the peak height of Sapp's earlier smash hit "Never Would Have Made It," which dominated gospel charts for much of 2008.

Sapp will appear on PBS-TV program "The Tavis Smiley Show," airing at 1 a.m. Tues. March 30 on WGVU-TV (35).

Last month the artist and his wife MaLinda Sapp were honored by the Grand Rapids Symphony with its Celebration of Soul Legacy Award for accomplishments and commitment to advancement of the black community in West Michigan.